Alabama AG Seeks Permission to Execute Inmate

The state of Alabama is once against petitioning a federal appellate court to allow an execution to proceed – this time for a death row inmate convicted of killing a police officer two decades ago.

Earlier this week, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a stay issued by a federal judge in the case. State attorneys argue there is no reason to block the execution of 40-year-old Torrey Twane McNabb, scheduled for tomorrow.

McNabb is one of several inmates challenging the constitutionality and humaneness of Alabama’s lethal injection protocol. Specifically, the inmates are concerned that the sedative midazolam isn’t effective, and might not render them unconscious before other drugs work to stop the heart and lungs. The state argues the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on midazolam’s effectiveness, and has allowed other executions to proceed in the state using the same drugs.

McNabb was convicted of shooting and killing Montgomery police officer Anderson Gordon after a traffic incident in 1997.